After 25 years working as an accounting assistant in a leading construction company, Asako Nakano decided two summers ago that she needed to stabilize her retirement plans. So she took the plunge and bought a condominium. "The decision to put almost all my savings into a home for myself was a bit daunting, but I never hesitated," said the friendly, confident single woman. "I thought to myself, I am never going to get married, so why not invest in my future? It made sense to me."

Corporate Earnings Forecast Reduced: Nomura Research Institute lowered its forecast for Japanese corporate pretax profits in the current fiscal year. It is now expecting a 10% decline in earnings from the year earlier, the third decline in a row. The research arm of Nomura Securities Co. said the new forecast is 5.6% below the forecast issued in March.

Corporate Earnings Forecast Reduced: Nomura Research Institute lowered its forecast for Japanese corporate pretax profits in the current fiscal year. It is now expecting a 10% decline in earnings from the year earlier, the third decline in a row. The research arm of Nomura Securities Co. said the new forecast is 5.6% below the forecast issued in March.

If you're looking for a place to invest in the 1990s, you might take notice that the Japanese are once again bullish on corporate America. So suggests a report from Nomura Research Institute, the research arm of Nomura Securities, the world's largest brokerage and securities firm. From it, smaller investors can glean tips on how a Japanese powerhouse research firm sees the new decade unfolding in global economic terms.

After 25 years working as an accounting assistant in a leading construction company, Asako Nakano decided two summers ago that she needed to stabilize her retirement plans. So she took the plunge and bought a condominium. "The decision to put almost all my savings into a home for myself was a bit daunting, but I never hesitated," said the friendly, confident single woman. "I thought to myself, I am never going to get married, so why not invest in my future? It made sense to me."

The Japanese are busily adding another product to their long list of successful exports--money, billions of dollars of it. A wave of Japanese cash moved through the banking halls of Frankfurt, London, New York and Zurich, and made 1984 a record-breaking year for Tokyo bankers. The city's Marunouchi banking district saw the biggest yen loan ever in 1984 when the Canadian government arranged a borrowing of $490 million in July.

Japan Trade Surplus Plunges More Than 50%: Analysts said the gap is likely to continue to shrink as reconstruction after last month's earthquake sucks in imports. "A recovery of the economy is also causing imports to rise," said economist Hidehiro Iwaki at Nomura Research Institute. Furthermore, the high yen was stimulating cheap imports, particularly from Asia, he added. The trade surplus fell to $2.88 billion in January from $6.03 billion a year earlier. But the drop was not likely to stem U.

The Japanese worried about the fate of compatriots posted in the World Trade Center buildings, which were home to at least 25 Japanese financial branch offices staffed by at least 440 Japanese expatriates. Seventeen of those employees, as well as two people visiting from Japan to attend a Nomura Research Institute seminar on the 102nd floor of one tower, remain missing. The government said at least two Japanese were also on the hijacked planes.

If you're looking for a place to invest in the 1990s, you might take notice that the Japanese are once again bullish on corporate America. So suggests a report from Nomura Research Institute, the research arm of Nomura Securities, the world's largest brokerage and securities firm. From it, smaller investors can glean tips on how a Japanese powerhouse research firm sees the new decade unfolding in global economic terms.

The Japanese are busily adding another product to their long list of successful exports--money, billions of dollars of it. A wave of Japanese cash moved through the banking halls of Frankfurt, London, New York and Zurich, and made 1984 a record-breaking year for Tokyo bankers. The city's Marunouchi banking district saw the biggest yen loan ever in 1984 when the Canadian government arranged a borrowing of $490 million in July.

Surging imports pushed Japan's trade surplus down 90% in January, its sharpest decline in five years, but the gap with the United States showed less dramatic improvement. January's customs-cleared trade surplus fell to just $340 million from $3.25 billion a year ago, the Finance Ministry reported today. The decline marks the ninth straight monthly narrowing of the surplus.

Brisk imports helped trim Japan's surplus in trade of goods and services in June by more than $1 billion from the same month last year and should keep slicing the surplus in coming months, economists said. Japan's June current account surplus, announced on Friday, tumbled to $6.43 billion from $7.50 billion a year earlier. In May, the surplus was $5.79 billion. "The trend looks definitely good," said economist Hidehiro Iwai of Nomura Research Institute.